EAST PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Tony Weisinger remembers that conversation like it was yesterday.
“I went to the emergency room and the doctor said, 'A 400-pound man has toxins in his body. We don't know why you're alive,'” Weisinger said.
It was December 2, 2015. His eight-and-a-half year journey as a basketball coach at Illinois Central College began.
He was on dialysis three days a week to treat his life-threatening kidney disease. Each session lasted him nearly three hours.
Weissinger, a former Peoria High School and University of Illinois basketball player, got to know the nurses, technicians and other patients well because he met with them multiple times a week. Then, after seeing a patient skip some treatments, he wondered if he could do the same.
So he asked the nurse.
“She said something shocking to me. She said, 'If you don't want to come, you don't have to come.' If you want to die, that’s up to you,” Weisinger explained. “I was motivated (to continue dialysis) for my son, my family, my wife, and everyone else.”
Weisinger patiently waited for his kidney to recover, but he never missed a game for treatment. Then, on March 17, he received a call from his doctor.
“He said we have a kidney ready for you,” Weisinger said. “And you have to be here within the hour.”
The kidney came from a Michigan donor and was a match for Weisinger. He received the transplant and recovered at his home four days later.
This will be my first week back to work after the transplant. He feels good, but he says he's a little tired.
This week, he also returned to the clinic where he received dialysis to visit technicians and patients he hadn't seen since mid-March.
“They looked at me the same way they looked at other patients with kidney disease, which was my inspiration. Because (transplants) can happen, we have to keep doing this.” said Weisinger. “Three people told me, 'I'm so glad you got your kidney.' You're my inspiration to keep going.” And that felt good. ”
